


Spirits that I've cited

by Literarion



Series: OLHTS Crack [2]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Crack, Crowley is So Done (Good Omens), Discord: O Lord Heal This Server, Imagination vs Knowledge, M/M, OLHTS made me do it, Technology, gratuitous cursing, technology is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24143923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Literarion/pseuds/Literarion
Summary: Crowley was a demon with imagination, which made him stand out downstairs, and made him good at his job. He was proud of that. The problem with imagination was that it's hard to imagine something if you know how it works.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: OLHTS Crack [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742359
Comments: 14
Kudos: 22
Collections: The Not-Very-Nice and Anatomically-Inaccurate Prophecies of OLHTS





	Spirits that I've cited

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Not-Very-Nice and Anatomically-Inaccurate Prophecies of OLHTS. Prompt: Misadventures with technology.
> 
> Title from [Goethes' Sorceres' Apprentice](https://www.babelmatrix.org/works/de/Goethe%2C_Johann_Wolfgang_von/Der_Zauberlehrling/en/5462-The_Sorcerer_s_Apprentice)

Damnshitshitshit, DAMN! Why did his fickle demon brain have to suck in information like that?

Crowley had lived happily without knowledge of electric circuits and power supply and all the rest of it ever since they came about. And now? There was a documentary series up on BBC iPlayer, which he equally happily watched, despite having neither paid fees nor registered for an account, just because he expected to watch it. And it had been interesting! Crowley learned about how power was generated (nuclear power plants were really a mess, weren't they? And yet, he was sure they were one of the angels' lots', no matter what the German's said!) And it had been interesting, he had whiled away a few days binging the whole series, and now his head swam from all the new information on generators and power lines and lightbulbs and fridges! Who knew fridges were this complex! Or TV sets! He certainly hadn't. And now look at him. When he hit the episode on TVs, things started to get complicated.

He hadn't questioned all that much when the lights had flickered out; only vaguely noticing the funny coincidence how this happened while he was watching the episode on lightbulb production; he was more fascinated by the material properties of tungsten. At some point, the flat fell more silent than it usually did. In retrospect, it must have been during the episode on fridges when the hum from his kitchen disappeared. But it was the TV suddenly shutting down when he was convinced something was truly, awfully wrong. And it could not be a coincidence that it happened right when he finally understood how the blasted things worked. And how they did not.

Crowley was a demon with imagination, which made him stand out downstairs, and made him good at his job. He was proud of that. The problem with imagination was that it's hard to _imagine_ something if you _know_ how it works. Of course, he once kept a burning Bentley functional simply by insisting it would be fine. And that had worked fine, so long as he was _in_ the car, and focused _very hard_ on it. As soon as he left, it was a different story. All of that goes to say that Crowley can make things work, but it is _effort_ to do so, and while he had plenty of imagination, he was also desperately lazy. He did not _want_ to have to keep all of his power supply and TV and kitchen appliances and what-have-you going on in the back of his head at all times. What if he wanted to take one of his refreshing week-long naps?! He'd wake up to the freezer ready for special waste disposal!

Well, fuck. He would have to do something about it, wouldn't he? He scrambled off his sofa and ambled over to the wall. Of course, he was vaguely aware that humans kept going on about sockets and plugs, but he had always smiled at that and taken it for an odd reoccurring innuendo. Apparently there was more to it. There was a wall socket alright, and the TV had some sort of cable with a plug at the end. The two were not connected. He pulled on the cable and tried to stuff the plug into the socket. The wall-mount of the TV creaked dangerously. For g.. s.. fuck's sake. The cable was too short, he'd rip the damn thing off the wall if he tried to pull it any further. But there were these things that humans used, weren't there? Suspenders? Extant … extension leads! Right. He snapped, and a brand new one appeared in front of him. With switches and a light indicating it was on, which would illuminate the darkest room and hum ever so slightly - terribly annoying. He sighed, and plugged it into the socket on the wall, ran the cable along to the TV, and plugged that in, too. Instantly, the TV came back to life.

So far, so good. Time to do something about the light. There must be… He turned around in a slow circle and looked over his walls. Sure enough, there was a switch right there beside the door. He strode over and flicked it. The lights went on. And with a crack, right off again, as the lightbulbs - which had been holding on for a _very_ long time, running on imagination - gracefully found their way into oblivion. Crowley blessed, again. He snapped, a row of new, energy-efficient light bulbs appearing in front of him. He pulled his throne over from his desk, clambered into it, and could only just reach the lamp with his fingertips. He blessed some more, a continuous stream babbling forth now, as he slowly unscrewed the broken and refitted the new lightbulbs.

\---

A few hours later, while Crowley was just about to install the new freezer - it had taken a while to get rid of the mess all the molten ice cream had made - when there was a tentative knock on the door. Crowley opened it with a wave and shouted 'Come on in, angel, I'll be with you in a moment, I just need to … damn, OUTCH!' Of course the blasted thing would drop onto his foot. And how on earth was he supposed to fit the plug into the socket when the cable wasn't long enough, so that he had to push it in halfway just to reach to the wall, but then couldn't reach around to … Anyone with shorter limbs and without his snakey flexibility would be utterly screwed. He wondered briefly whether this had indeed been one of his own, but was distracted by a familiar mop of hair appearing around the edge of the kitchen door.

'Crowley, what in the world are you doing?!' Aziraphale gasped.

'What does it look like?!' the demon snapped back, facing toward the freezer to hide the rising blush on his face.

'Since when do you do … electrics? And … what do you even need a freezer for?'

'I thought it'd be fun. Consider it a new hobby. Also, ice cream, angel. Where do you think I keep all that stuff you shovel up on our date nights?'

'Oh! I thought you just…' Aziraphale waved a hand in the vague approximation of a miracle.

'So did I,' Crowley sighed. 'Turns out it isn't all that easy, when you understand the details.'

'Oh? Well. Are we still good for date night? I was looking forward to that film! And ice cream, of course.'

'Of course angel, just give me a moment.' Crowley snapped, plugging in the freezer and positioning it under the kitchen counter where it belonged. He snapped again to fill it with the angels' favourite sorts of ice cream. 'Take your pick,' he offered, gesturing to the freezer. 'I'll sort the wine.'

'Oh, thank you, love! This is going to be fun!'

Crowley picked up a bottle and two glasses, sauntered back to the sofa and spread out on it. He snapped at the TV and navigated to today's film on Netflix - and groaned. Of course. How could he have forgotten? They were going to watch [The Current War. ](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140507/)Fortunately, he already knew about the light bulbs now. He just hoped that he wouldn't learn anything else tonight; he had done quite enough wiring for one day. He sipped at his wine, and waited for his angel to join him.


End file.
